Harrison Mills
Encyclopedia
Harrison Mills, formerly Carnarvon and also Harrison River, is an agricultural farming and tourism
-based community in the District of Kent
west of Agassiz
, British Columbia
. The community is a part of the Fraser Valley Regional District
. Harrison Mills is home to the British Columbia Heritage Kilby Museum and Campground.
or Chehalis people, whose reserve is located on the north side of the bay along the lower Harrison River and around that river's ocnfluence with its tributary, the Chehalis
. The Scowlitz and Chehalis peoples once had large and famously-carved longhouse villages, long since destroyed by the encouragement of missionaries . An archaeological site on the Harrison Mills side of the bay, the Scowlitz Mounds, also known as the Fraser Valley Pyramids, is under investigation by Simon Fraser University and the Scowlitz First Nation and represent an unusual period in the anthropological and cultural history of the Fraser Valley. The Scowlitz are Halqemeylem-speaking and are part of the Sto:lo
cultural group, while the Sts'ailes (Chehalis) identify themselves separately and speak a dialect of Halqemeylem that has similarities with the Lower Lillooet River dialect of St'at'imcets
(Ucwalmicwts).
The dialect spoken by the Sts'Ailes, whose name means "beating heart", includes the word sesqac, which is the source of the English word "sasquatch". The vicinity of Harrison Bay, Harrison Mills and the lower Harrison River is reputed to have the greatest number and density of sasquatch sightings worldwide. The sasquatch is the emblem of the Chehalis First Nation
and is sacred in Sts'Ailes culture.
The opening of Fort Langley in 1827 downriver began changing the traditional patterns of life for the Scowlitz and Chehalis by the introduction of new goods and also an end to raids by the Euclataws
Kwakwaka'wakw
(Southern Kwakiutl) of Cape Mudge and other northern coastal tribes.
In 1859, Governor
James Douglas
named the meeting place of the Harrison
and Fraser
rivers Carnarvon in honour of Henry Herbert Molyneux
, the fourth Earl of Carnarvon. At the time of its naming, the town consisted of one crude hotel. Partly because of this, the name never caught on and the town-to-be never grew as hoped. For a time, official maps of the area duly recorded the name as Carnarvon but almost all newspapers and diaries referred to it as Harrisonmouth.
The impact of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
of 1858 was far-reaching, during which 30,000 men headed up the Fraser to its canyon stretches upstream from Hope in just a few short weeks. Many stopped along the way, with all sandbars along the Fraser around Harrison Mills and throughout the Fraser Valley turned over by prospectors in the search for gold. Marginal amounts were found around Harrison Mills and as far downstream as the present site of Mission, but only above Hope were there paying bars. .
The valuable Douglas Fir timber of the Chehalis River and area was prized early on—the Canadian Pacific Railway
used cants from the area for bridge timbers. A large steel CPR bridge, swing type, was built to cross the Harrison River
at Harrison Mills in 1885 (the bridge was doubled in 1913). The first settlers of note, and perhaps the most important, were Captain William Menten and his wife Emma who arrived in 1890. Emma Menten became the owner of the aforementioned hotel that had been expanded over the years. The next prominent family to arrive was that of Charles Fenn Pretty
who built a spacious lodge in 1903. Finally, Joseph Martin built a large sawmill in 1892 beside the railway. The construction of this mill would move the townsite away from Lot 10A which was bordered on all sides by the Scowlitz reserve and towards Harrison Bay, a move that would have significant repercussions.
It was at this time that Emma Menten moved her store from Lot 10A to a site immediately east of the Martin mill in order to compete with a new store by the railway opened by Laurie and David Galbraith. Meanwhile, Captain Menten built a small sternwheeler called the Minto to carry passengers between Chilliwack
and Harrison Mills. This increased the traffic coming across the Fraser River from Chilliwack and spurred business in the town.
Quite suddenly, two new mills were constructed: a shingle mill, which would remain in operation until 1942, and a larger sawmill that replaced the old Martin mill, bought by the Tretheweys. James Trethewey sr. was an ambitious man with big plans for the enterprise. In November 1899, the Harrison River Mills Timber and Trading Company was incorporated. Trethewey planned to run the business jointly with his two sons, as well as Thomas Jackson of Chilliwack, T.A. Cuddy and Frank Boyd. With these mills came a large influx of people. A school and church were built in 1901 to meet the needs of the expanding town. (Before this, children had to cross the river by boat to go to school. This is how Maud Menten
, perhaps Harrison Mills most famous resident, was educated.)
In June 1903, the Tretheweys decided to sell half-interest in their mill to the Rat Portage Lumber Company but before the contracts could be signed and the cheque handed over, a fire swept through the millsite, destroying the buildings, machinery and lumber. The company's losses were estimated at $50,000 above its insurance coverage. As a result of this, the Rat Portage company bought the entire holdings of the Tretheweys in October 1903. When the new mill was opened in 1909, it was one of BC's
largest sawmills. The Chilliwack Progress estimated the mill's daily capacity at 100,000 to 150,000 feet.
It was in these adjoining years of relative inactivity in the sawmill that Thomas and Eliza Kilby built and opened their famous store
. They bought the two adjoining lots from Emma and Robert (son) Menton in 1906, building in two stages. The store itself was built in 1906, while the hotel was built in 1907, doubling the size of the building. In direct competition was the Rat Portage store and boarding house, built only six months after the T. Kilby General Store opened.
In 1910, a blow was struck to the business in Harrison Mills. The B.C. Electric Line
opened on October 3, 1910, serving passengers going between Chilliwack and New Westminster. Much of the town's business at that point was Chilliwack residents wanting to travel by rail, but after construction, westbound travelers would switch to the new route. On October 10, 1910, Eliza Kilby closed the hotel, leaving it open as a boarding house for many years. Finally, the CNR
was opened in 1915 passing through Chilliwack, offering a direct route to eastern Canada. Harrison Mills' role as a traffic junction was completely finished.
line, the vital transcontinental link.
The end of the war brought demands for improvement and development. There was an expectation that the Rat Portage mill would be opening once more and transform the town into a busy commercial centre once again. The company began to make plans early in 1921, when they offered to buy land from Thomas Kilby. However, it ultimately decided to pull out of the town altogether, to concentrate on its mill in Vancouver
. The machinery was sold and the buildings left vacant, until a fire in 1930 claimed most of what was left. The fire was so intense that the railway had to be closed for a day, delaying Prime Minister
Mackenzie King
himself in Agassiz
while repairs were made.
However, the old shingle mill continued to run and employ a fair number of people. But despite this, the town settled back into a quiet farming existence.
Through the 1920s, the main concern of residents was the construction of a major highway connection. After a strong showing on behalf of residents of Harrison Mills in 1912, the Kent Municipal Council decided to construct the road over Mount Woodside and through the Harrison Mills floodplain. However, it was not until twelve years later that the construction was started. In 1924, the project began after numerous petitions by Acton Kilby (son of Thomas and Eliza who was by now running the store). Upon completion, the road was not as useful as hoped. It took Acton Kilby four and a half hours to drive to Vancouver.
The next major issue was dyking along the Harrison and Fraser Rivers. In 1921, Thomas Kilby began to recruit his neighbours to sign a petition to the Municipality of Kent urging construction. However, a rival petition circulated by James Duncan upset the Kilby petition and he did not manage to collect the necessary 51% of the property owners. By 1925, the farmers had organized in a committee that constructed a private dyke that consisted of a 3' wall from the Bateson Slough to the CPR tracks at the Harrison Mills railway station.
, a large lake-like backwater of the Harrison River
just before that river's confluence with the Fraser
.
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
-based community in the District of Kent
Kent, British Columbia
The District of Kent is a district municipality located east of Vancouver, British Columbia. Part of the Fraser Valley Regional District, Kent consists of several communities, the largest and most well-known being Agassiz, the only town in the municipality, Harrison Mills, Kilby, Mount Woodside,...
west of Agassiz
Agassiz, British Columbia
Agassiz is a small community located in British Columbia's Fraser Valley. The only town within the jurisdiction of the District Municipality of Kent, it contains the majority of Kent's population.-References:...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. The community is a part of the Fraser Valley Regional District
Fraser Valley Regional District
The Fraser Valley Regional District is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. The FVRD covers an area of 13,361.74 km²...
. Harrison Mills is home to the British Columbia Heritage Kilby Museum and Campground.
First Nations
Harrison Bay is the home of the Scowlitz (Scaulits) people, whose main reserve is on the bay's western shore, across from Harrison Mills, and also of the Sts'AilesSts'Ailes
The Sts'ailes are a First Nations people in the Lower Mainland of the Canadian province of British Columbia. They are a Halqemeylem-speaking people but are distinct historically and politically from the surrounding Sto:lo peoples...
or Chehalis people, whose reserve is located on the north side of the bay along the lower Harrison River and around that river's ocnfluence with its tributary, the Chehalis
Chehalis River (British Columbia)
The Chehalis River is located in the southwest corner of British Columbia, Canada near the city of Chilliwack. It flows south-eastward out of the Douglas Ranges of the Coast Mountains, draining into the Harrison River....
. The Scowlitz and Chehalis peoples once had large and famously-carved longhouse villages, long since destroyed by the encouragement of missionaries . An archaeological site on the Harrison Mills side of the bay, the Scowlitz Mounds, also known as the Fraser Valley Pyramids, is under investigation by Simon Fraser University and the Scowlitz First Nation and represent an unusual period in the anthropological and cultural history of the Fraser Valley. The Scowlitz are Halqemeylem-speaking and are part of the Sto:lo
Stó:lo
The Sto:lo , alternately written as Stó:lō, Stó:lô or Stó:lõ and historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group of First Nations peoples inhabiting the Fraser Valley of...
cultural group, while the Sts'ailes (Chehalis) identify themselves separately and speak a dialect of Halqemeylem that has similarities with the Lower Lillooet River dialect of St'at'imcets
St'at'imcets language
Lillooet or Lilloet, also known as St’át’imcets , is the Interior Salishan language of the St’át’imc, spoken in southern British Columbia, Canada around the middle Fraser and Lillooet rivers. The dialect of the Lower Lillooet people uses the name Ucwalmícwts as St’át’imcets properly means "the...
(Ucwalmicwts).
The dialect spoken by the Sts'Ailes, whose name means "beating heart", includes the word sesqac, which is the source of the English word "sasquatch". The vicinity of Harrison Bay, Harrison Mills and the lower Harrison River is reputed to have the greatest number and density of sasquatch sightings worldwide. The sasquatch is the emblem of the Chehalis First Nation
Chehalis First Nation
The Chehalis First Nation or Chehalis Indian Band is the band government of the Sts'Ailes people, whose territories lie between Deroche and Agassiz, British Columbia...
and is sacred in Sts'Ailes culture.
The opening of Fort Langley in 1827 downriver began changing the traditional patterns of life for the Scowlitz and Chehalis by the introduction of new goods and also an end to raids by the Euclataws
Laich-kwil-tach
Laich-kwil-tach is the proper spelling in the Kwak'wala language of the name used for themselves by the "Southern Kwakiutl" people of Quadra Island and Campbell River in British Columbia, Canada...
Kwakwaka'wakw
Kwakwaka'wakw
The Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations peoples, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland and islands.Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
(Southern Kwakiutl) of Cape Mudge and other northern coastal tribes.
1859-1914
Premier of British Columbia
The Premier of British Columbia is the first minister, head of government, and de facto chief executive for the Canadian province of British Columbia. Until the early 1970s the title Prime Minister of British Columbia was often used...
James Douglas
James Douglas (Governor)
Sir James Douglas KCB was a company fur-trader and a British colonial governor on Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia. Douglas worked for the North West Company, and later for the Hudson's Bay Company becoming a high-ranking company officer...
named the meeting place of the Harrison
Harrison River
The Harrison River is a short but large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it near the community of Chehalis, British Columbia. The Harrison drains Harrison Lake and is the de facto continuation of the Lillooet River, which feeds the lake....
and Fraser
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
rivers Carnarvon in honour of Henry Herbert Molyneux
Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon
Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, PC, DL, FSA, FRS , known as Lord Porchester from 1833 to 1849, was a British politician and a leading member of the Conservative Party...
, the fourth Earl of Carnarvon. At the time of its naming, the town consisted of one crude hotel. Partly because of this, the name never caught on and the town-to-be never grew as hoped. For a time, official maps of the area duly recorded the name as Carnarvon but almost all newspapers and diaries referred to it as Harrisonmouth.
The impact of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River. This was a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton...
of 1858 was far-reaching, during which 30,000 men headed up the Fraser to its canyon stretches upstream from Hope in just a few short weeks. Many stopped along the way, with all sandbars along the Fraser around Harrison Mills and throughout the Fraser Valley turned over by prospectors in the search for gold. Marginal amounts were found around Harrison Mills and as far downstream as the present site of Mission, but only above Hope were there paying bars. .
The valuable Douglas Fir timber of the Chehalis River and area was prized early on—the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
used cants from the area for bridge timbers. A large steel CPR bridge, swing type, was built to cross the Harrison River
Harrison River
The Harrison River is a short but large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it near the community of Chehalis, British Columbia. The Harrison drains Harrison Lake and is the de facto continuation of the Lillooet River, which feeds the lake....
at Harrison Mills in 1885 (the bridge was doubled in 1913). The first settlers of note, and perhaps the most important, were Captain William Menten and his wife Emma who arrived in 1890. Emma Menten became the owner of the aforementioned hotel that had been expanded over the years. The next prominent family to arrive was that of Charles Fenn Pretty
Charles Fenn Pretty
Charles Fenn Pretty was the father of the forestry industry in British Columbia.-Early years:Charles Fenn Pretty was born in 1865 to an Ontario family. Charles was brought up on the family farm at Belleville. In his early twenties, he entered the contracting business. He quickly made money off of...
who built a spacious lodge in 1903. Finally, Joseph Martin built a large sawmill in 1892 beside the railway. The construction of this mill would move the townsite away from Lot 10A which was bordered on all sides by the Scowlitz reserve and towards Harrison Bay, a move that would have significant repercussions.
It was at this time that Emma Menten moved her store from Lot 10A to a site immediately east of the Martin mill in order to compete with a new store by the railway opened by Laurie and David Galbraith. Meanwhile, Captain Menten built a small sternwheeler called the Minto to carry passengers between Chilliwack
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...
and Harrison Mills. This increased the traffic coming across the Fraser River from Chilliwack and spurred business in the town.
Quite suddenly, two new mills were constructed: a shingle mill, which would remain in operation until 1942, and a larger sawmill that replaced the old Martin mill, bought by the Tretheweys. James Trethewey sr. was an ambitious man with big plans for the enterprise. In November 1899, the Harrison River Mills Timber and Trading Company was incorporated. Trethewey planned to run the business jointly with his two sons, as well as Thomas Jackson of Chilliwack, T.A. Cuddy and Frank Boyd. With these mills came a large influx of people. A school and church were built in 1901 to meet the needs of the expanding town. (Before this, children had to cross the river by boat to go to school. This is how Maud Menten
Maud Menten
Maud Leonora Menten was a Canadian medical scientist who made significant contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry. Her name is associated with the famous Michaelis-Menten equation in biochemistry.Maud Menten was born in Port Lambton, Ontario and studied medicine at the University of...
, perhaps Harrison Mills most famous resident, was educated.)
In June 1903, the Tretheweys decided to sell half-interest in their mill to the Rat Portage Lumber Company but before the contracts could be signed and the cheque handed over, a fire swept through the millsite, destroying the buildings, machinery and lumber. The company's losses were estimated at $50,000 above its insurance coverage. As a result of this, the Rat Portage company bought the entire holdings of the Tretheweys in October 1903. When the new mill was opened in 1909, it was one of BC's
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
largest sawmills. The Chilliwack Progress estimated the mill's daily capacity at 100,000 to 150,000 feet.
It was in these adjoining years of relative inactivity in the sawmill that Thomas and Eliza Kilby built and opened their famous store
Kilby Provincial Park
Kilby Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. Kilby Park is located in Harrison Mills, on the Harrison River overlooking Harrison Bay in the Upper Fraser Valley of southwestern British Columbia. It comprises 3 hectares with 22 camp sites and a boat launch...
. They bought the two adjoining lots from Emma and Robert (son) Menton in 1906, building in two stages. The store itself was built in 1906, while the hotel was built in 1907, doubling the size of the building. In direct competition was the Rat Portage store and boarding house, built only six months after the T. Kilby General Store opened.
In 1910, a blow was struck to the business in Harrison Mills. The B.C. Electric Line
British Columbia Electric Railway
The British Columbia Electric Railway was a historic Canadian railway which operated in southwestern British Columbia.Originally the parent company, and later a division, of BC Electric, the BCER operated public transportation in southwestern British Columbia from its establishment in the...
opened on October 3, 1910, serving passengers going between Chilliwack and New Westminster. Much of the town's business at that point was Chilliwack residents wanting to travel by rail, but after construction, westbound travelers would switch to the new route. On October 10, 1910, Eliza Kilby closed the hotel, leaving it open as a boarding house for many years. Finally, the CNR
Canadian Northern Railway
The Canadian Northern Railway is a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its demise in 1923, when it was merged into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.-Manitoba beginnings:CNoR had its start in...
was opened in 1915 passing through Chilliwack, offering a direct route to eastern Canada. Harrison Mills' role as a traffic junction was completely finished.
1914-1950
The outbreak of war in 1914 delayed all chance of recovery. Somewhat surprisingly, the government stationed a ten man bridge guard from the Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles at Harrison Mills for the duration of the war. They were stationed as a security precaution against sabotage to the CPRCanadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
line, the vital transcontinental link.
The end of the war brought demands for improvement and development. There was an expectation that the Rat Portage mill would be opening once more and transform the town into a busy commercial centre once again. The company began to make plans early in 1921, when they offered to buy land from Thomas Kilby. However, it ultimately decided to pull out of the town altogether, to concentrate on its mill in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. The machinery was sold and the buildings left vacant, until a fire in 1930 claimed most of what was left. The fire was so intense that the railway had to be closed for a day, delaying Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
himself in Agassiz
Agassiz, British Columbia
Agassiz is a small community located in British Columbia's Fraser Valley. The only town within the jurisdiction of the District Municipality of Kent, it contains the majority of Kent's population.-References:...
while repairs were made.
However, the old shingle mill continued to run and employ a fair number of people. But despite this, the town settled back into a quiet farming existence.
Through the 1920s, the main concern of residents was the construction of a major highway connection. After a strong showing on behalf of residents of Harrison Mills in 1912, the Kent Municipal Council decided to construct the road over Mount Woodside and through the Harrison Mills floodplain. However, it was not until twelve years later that the construction was started. In 1924, the project began after numerous petitions by Acton Kilby (son of Thomas and Eliza who was by now running the store). Upon completion, the road was not as useful as hoped. It took Acton Kilby four and a half hours to drive to Vancouver.
The next major issue was dyking along the Harrison and Fraser Rivers. In 1921, Thomas Kilby began to recruit his neighbours to sign a petition to the Municipality of Kent urging construction. However, a rival petition circulated by James Duncan upset the Kilby petition and he did not manage to collect the necessary 51% of the property owners. By 1925, the farmers had organized in a committee that constructed a private dyke that consisted of a 3' wall from the Bateson Slough to the CPR tracks at the Harrison Mills railway station.
Geography
Harrison Mills is located on a floodplain at the western foot of Mount Woodside at the outlet of Harrison BayHarrison Bay
Harrison Bay is a lake-like expansion of the Harrison River, located west of its main course adjacent to the communities of Chehalis and Harrison Mills. Extremely shallow, the bay outlets to the Fraser at Harrison Mills, where in pre-gold rush times there had been a "riffle", which was dredged to...
, a large lake-like backwater of the Harrison River
Harrison River
The Harrison River is a short but large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it near the community of Chehalis, British Columbia. The Harrison drains Harrison Lake and is the de facto continuation of the Lillooet River, which feeds the lake....
just before that river's confluence with the Fraser
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
.